


Twenty Things

by edgeboi



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Based on a textpost, Fix-It, M/M, Post-Seine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 03:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8473195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgeboi/pseuds/edgeboi
Summary: Post-Seine. Jean Valjean has Javert list twenty things that make him happy to help with his mental health. Not my idea, got idea from a textpost (because I am a memelord).





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bread_Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bread_Stars/gifts).



> Thank you to whoever posted the textpost.

Four months after that night at the river, Jean Valjean still finds himself under the watchful eye of Inspector Javert. This time, however, it is not a suspicious glare, instead a piercing look of desperation.

 

The two men do not talk about that night. That is not to say that they do not remember the inexorable force of the River Seine: Valjean ducking in and out of the deafening current, feeling soaked cloth brushing against his fingers, grasping, desperately grasping for what could possibly be the Inspector. Nor does Valjean forget the moments that followed: lifting the water-logged body out of the ravenous grasp of the river, hefting both of their weights out onto the bank, trying to breathe life back into the cold, limp heap that once was a proud officer of the law. 

 

It seems to Valjean that the only life he could return to Javert was the physical one, the breath in his lungs, not what makes one truly live, emotions and feelings. Valjean knows that whatever drove the man to the Seine still ate at him from the inside; the former convict has carefully hidden all sharp objects with which Javert could harm himself with. Still, Javert’s struggle stabs at his heart more than any blade, and he is at a loss of what to do. He knows he cannot give up however, and keeps trying. 

 

When Javert was well enough to write, Valjean had given him a blank journal, asking him to write down twenty things that made him happy, or at least made him feel better than he did. This did not work; Valjean was on the brink of giving up. It was quite upsetting to see the word “death” scrawled across the page for days on end. Valjean then decided to create things for him to enjoy, perhaps to coax Javert back to a regular human existence, he tells himself; small things, really, flowers from the Jardin de Luxembourg, a warm cup of tea, a few berries from the backyard of 55 Rue Plumet. Once he even dared to embrace the man.

 

Recently, Valjean has taken to reading the words written in the journal. Today, as he had expected, he sees his name listed multiple times, among other things. For this he is grateful, and although there are less than a dozen things listed, it is progress. For the first time in weeks, Valjean does not see the word “death” or “river”. Instead he reads “Valjean” and “Valjean’s smile” and “the way Valjean blushes when we are sitting together”. 

 

That night, Valjean quietly opens the door to Javert’s room and sees him sitting on the edge of his bed, staring down at the journal, pen in the inkwell on the desk. Valjean nervously approaches him. He smiles slightly, feeling the heat rise in his cheeks. Javert turns towards him. Valjean sits down next to him. He leans in and presses his lips to Javert’s. Immediately embarrassed, he jolts upright and begins to leave, when Javert pulls him back into a proper kiss. In this moment, everything is normal, not the pain of their pasts, not what they have survived, just them, Jean Valjean and Javert, together, in peace. Next to them, the journal has fallen open.

 

Valjean.  
Jean Valjean.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I finally wrote something not related to memes


End file.
